Friday, March 13, 2020

Cocooning, downgrading… what will Coronavirus mean for music? | Music Ally

The short term impact of the novel-Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, in the US at least, is this: no big tours. AEG and Live Nation both announced yesterday that they are postponing all arena tours scheduled for March, having set up a task force together with talent agencies CAA, WME, Paradigm and UTA to figure out a collective strategy.

Back in the UK, for now the Glastonbury festival is going ahead – it announced a fuller lineup yesterday – while noting that “we are keeping our fingers firmly crossed” for the event to take place in 15 weeks’ time.

What will the wider implications for the entertainment industries be though? Midia Research published a thoughtful blog post yesterday, weighing up the potential positives of a Coronavirus-sparked economic slowdown (cocooning, when people may stay at home and stream more) and the potential negatives (downgrading, where “consumers may find themselves cutting back more dramatically, with streaming music particularly vulnerable” due to free tiers still offering a decent experience. Finally, for a glimpse at how one localised scene is adapting, read this China Daily piece on how Chinese clubs are experimenting with “cloud disco dancing” – a mixture of live streams of DJ sets and chat.

Stuart Dredge


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